Films

Short Siberian Film Festival

Thursday 6 May 2010, 3-5.30, Lecture Theatre, SPRI

Siberia - after the shaman (Channel 4, 52 minutes)
Reindeer herders in the Verkhoyansk mountains of northeast Siberia, based on the fieldwork of Piers Vitebsky. First prize, Film festival of European Foundation for the Environment.

Before the snow (by Christian Vagt, 30 minutes)
Reindeer and ghosts in the oil fields and industrial debris of western Siberia.

The time when dreams melt (by Aleksei Vakhrushev, 15 minutes)
Enforced relocation among Eskimo walrus hunters of Chukotka.

Arctic Aviators (National Geographic, 25 minutes)
Vital supply lines and heroic bush pilots; adventure travel by Marcel Theroux, based on the fieldwork of Piers Vitebsky.

'Finding Franklin': film and discussion with Professor Ian MacLaren (University of Alberta)

2-4pm, Monday 19 May 2008
SPRI Lecture Theatre

Hosted by the Circumpolar History and Public Policy group (CHiPP).

There will be a screening of this 2005 documentary, on which Professor MacLaren acted as a consultant, followed by a discussion.

Two years in the making, this documentary tells the extraordinary story of a lost arctic expedition. In 1845, Sir John Franklin set out to find a route to Asia through the arctic - the fabled Northwest Passage. The entire expedition vanished, something that had never happened before. Finding Franklin recounts a desperate tale of a ferocious struggle against death and the equally desperate struggle to find out what went wrong.

Professor MacLaren teaches in both the Departments of English and History & Classics at the University of Alberta. His research and teaching interests normally pertain to the interdisciplinary study of early Canada, and focus on the literature and art of exploration and travel, poetry, and colonial studies, generally. He has edited several travellers' narratives about the Arctic, including The Ladies, the Gwich'in, and the Rat (with Lisa LaFramboise; 1998), and Arctic Artist: The Journal and Paintings of George Back, Midshipman with Franklin 1819-1822 (with Stuart Houston; 1984). He has also published many articles about Arctic explorers and their narratives over his thirty-year career. His most recent work is concerned with the visual and textual construction of wilderness in Canadian national parks.

Kolme

12.15, Thursday 19th July 2007, SPRI lecture theatre

This short (15-minute) and rather beautiful film tells about the life of local arctic peoples in changing environmental and social conditions. Forestry, reindeer herding and fishing form the basic livelihoods for these peoples. Adaptation to the harsh conditions takes place through tradition and innovation, by using the latest technologies in communication and transportation. How do families pass their way of life and understanding of the environment to future generations through everyday work. How are we all still dependent on and part of our surroundings and environment?

Background: The film Kolme was produced as part of BALANCE, a multilateral project to study the impacts of climate change on the physical, biological and socioeconomic components of the Barents Region. SPRI was part of BALANCE, investigating the potential impact on reindeer husbandry across the Barents Region but especially in Russia. BALANCE was funded under the fifth framework programme of the European Community, through project EVK-2002-00169.

Inuit on Celluloid - Inuit Film Series

Jan-June 2007

Read more about Inuit on Celluloid - Inuit Film Series.

A Festival of Arctic Films

February 2006

Read more about the Festival of Arctic Films.